One of the most powerful Brazilian drug gangs has splashed out on an extravagant party to celebrate Children’s Day, handing out numerous gifts and organising live music on a football pitch in a favela.

The party was reportedly thrown by the ‘Comando Vermelho’ (‘Red Command’) drug gang on a football pitch in the Complexo da Penha favela agglomeration in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday, 12th October.

In the footage, numerous children’s bicycles, toy cars, scooters, dolls and even motorbikes can be seen lined up neatly alongside the football pitch.

The news site UOL reports that the large crowds seen in the footage were handed the gifts by members of the Comando Vermelho throughout the day that is dedicated every year in Brazil to children.

Children’s Day is a national holiday in the country and toy retailers consider it to be one of the most important days of the year for sales.

Images from the event were posted online by several accounts linked to the Comando Vermelho drug gang.

Comando Vermelho was founded in 1979 by leftist militants and other convicts who were imprisoned during Brazil’s military dictatorship, which lasted from 1964 to 1985.

The group eventually drifted away from its political roots and is now believed to be involved in several criminal activities including drug trafficking, bribery, loan sharking and arms trafficking.

According to the news site Amazonas News, the police said that if it is confirmed that the Comando Vermelho financed the Children’s Day party, they will investigate the event as part of their ongoing investigation into drug trafficking in the Complexo da Penha.